Lenten Traditions for the Family

This has been an exciting year of beginning rich and meaningful traditions with my family.  A few weeks ago I was looking at my calendar and noticed Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.  I'll admit that I had heard of them but never really knew what they were all about.  I was surprised to find out the meanings of these celebrations and the whole Lenten season.  So with that said I do encourage you all to find out why certain celebrations are on the calendar and to participate in those that resonate with you.

I am terrible at summarizing so I suggest you click on the links above to discover these celebrations for yourself.  Here are some activities that we chose to do this year to celebrate. Although we are not Catholic ourselves, many of the resources below come from wonderful Catholic sites.

Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Tuesday)

• We were going to have pancakes but didn't have all the right ingredients so we made French toast instead.
• We used items from our play kitchen to have our own pancake race with felt pancakes.
• Next year we'll discuss the meaning behind this celebration and have the kids help make the food.

Ash Wednesday

• Talked a bit about repentance and the reason behind the celebration.
• Mommy shared what she was going to give up for Lent (I gave up Facebook in case anyone is missing me).
• Next year we will have a fire or light some candles.

Station of the Cross table

Lent

• Printed a count-down calendar from the internet. (We may make our own next year)
• Set up a Stations of the Cross area in the house. See the picture above.
• Every few days we are working through the Stations of the Cross for kids.
• I created a box of objects for the kids, similar to the link, to add more meaning to the Stations of the Cross readings.
• Later in the month we will be changing up our nature table 
• Plant seeds that will hopefully sprout in time for Easter
• Decorate the house with simple homemade decorations
• Decorate eggs

Holy Week/ Easter

• Make resurrection buns and hot cross buns.
• Wash each others feet and have a simple meal to talk about the Last Supper.
• Possibly do egg hunt using Resurrection Eggs (plastic eggs with meaningful objects inside)
• plant our seeds if they are big enough.

I'm still working on more Easter ideas since I know I'll come across some great ideas online.  Please do share some of your ideas and traditions with us we'd love to hear from you.